


seashells by the seashore

by hulklinging



Series: Sapphic Somewhere [7]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beach, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Body Image, F/F, I'm laughing at the 'alternate universe beach' thing, Multi, anyway this is the sarchengsey Beach Episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 07:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10566918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: Somewhere on the California coast, three girlfriends stop for a beach day.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had to give them their beach episode.

They're driving up the California coast in the middle of summer, and Blue has had enough.

"Pull over," she says, and Gansey immediately does so, no questions. Henry, on official DJ duty, rises one well-crafted eyebrow at that, but decides teasing her girlfriend about how closely she listens to her other girlfriend is a silly endeavour when she could lean over and kiss Gansey's cheek instead.

"You're cute," she says, and enjoys Gansey's blush.

Blue is muttering in the backseat, and then she's opened the door and slammed it behind her.

"Pop the trunk!"

Henry does so, and admires how nice her new nail polish looks against the colour of the Pig's dashboard.

There's rummaging in the back, and then Blue, wearing a lot less clothing than she was when she got out of the car, is tapping on Gansey's window.

"Are you coming or what?"

Gansey stares at her. So does Henry. They've gone swimming a few times, of course, but it's been mostly in pretty public places, so Blue had kept her shirt on. Henry and Gansey had, in an act of solidarity, followed suit. Both were a little relieved, not that their girlfriend felt uncomfortable but that they had an excuse to cover up as well. Henry had grown into her body, but it was still softer than she was always told it should be, and she knew that was the patriarchy talking (with a little bit of racism thrown in, of course) but she still didn't much like looking at her tummy in the mirror. Gansey's self-consciousness was newer, had to do with the new scars that we're now scattered across her body, looking like the roots and branches that brought her back to life. A small price to pay for the air in her lungs and the beats of her heart, but they were still large and very apparent, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for the staring and the questions just yet.

But they're pulled over somewhere between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, and Blue's not wearing a tshirt now.

"We're something, alright," Henry gets out.

Blue rolls her eyes. "Shut up and get dressed. Or not. I'm going swimming."

She's already in the water by the time the other two get their act together. Gansey, always thinking ahead, spreads three towels out across the sand, and Henry sprays some sunscreen in the general direction of her exposed skin. Her bathing suit is high waisted and polka dotted, and when she asks Gansey to apply sunscreen to her back, she enjoys how red her girlfriend's face goes, and how good it feels, her hands running down her back.

"Don't stress too much," she reminds her. "We'll have to reapply after we get out of the water anyway."

Gansey kisses the back of her neck, and now it's Henry's turn to blush.

"I like your suit," she says, in that tone that makes Henry feel like some recently discovered wonder. And then Gansey's off, running across the sand to join Blue in the water. Gansey's suit is a classic one, black and surprisingly skimpy. Henry had expected a little more business. One of those bathing suits that promised +3 speed as long as the brand was prominently displayed. In the water, Gansey and Blue look every bit like the magical creatures they are, water reflecting Gansey's scars like poetry, Blue's hair free of its many clips and doing some excellent imitation of a crown.

Henry runs out to them and dives into the water, making sure to splash both of them.

"You two looked like you needed a sea monster," she says, and earns a kiss on both cheeks for that.

In the water their flaws do not disappear, but are magnified in increasingly fantastic ways. Blue's bottoms have a skirt attached, and in the water it twirls outwards, killing the distance between them. Henry's pale thighs stand out between her girlfriends' darker ones, magnified in a way that should make Henry uncomfortable but just makes her feel strong. And Gansey's scars meld with the water's movement, almost hypnotic.

They're out of the water and drying off on on their towels, Gansey reading a book that is really much too heavy for a beach day but that isn't stopping her, Blue splayed across her two girlfriends and doodling something on Henry's shoulder. Henry is content to just sit here and bask in the sun and the company of her two favourite people, sending occasional snapchats to Cheng2, who is stuck at some family friend's wedding and none too happy about it.

"Hey guys, Cheng2 wants to know if we're gonna hit up Vancouver Pride? It's the end of July, which is probably when we'll be up there anyway..."

Blue hums her approval, while Gansey puts her book down and thinks about it for a moment before nodding her head as well.

"That sounds doable. I've never been to a Pride celebration, so you'll have to guide me through it."

Henry sits up, and Blue slides down her torso a little. "What? Really?"

Gansey makes a face. "It's not like I spent much time thinking about my sexuality at all, before..."

"Before you went to an all-girls school and lost your shit?" Blue supplies.

Henry cackles as Gansey nods solemnly. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose."

Blue leans over and rearranges herself so that she can give Gansey a lingering kiss on the lips, which is of course when the car pulls up. Blue pulls away, Gansey tenses, and a door slams.

"Hello, ladies!"

Blue's face gets stormy just as fast as real thunderclouds roll in, and by the time the three guys have stumbled down the little bank between the road and the beach, they've arranged themselves so that they're all on their respective towels, although they're all till touching. Blue's got her arms crossed over her chest defensively. Between the growing they've done that summer and the help of the bathing suit, there's nothing really to hide about her chest, but growing up in Virginia has made her cautious, and Henry makes sure to give her shoulder a little bump with her own, just a reminder that she's not alone and they'll be fine. She relaxes slightly.

"Hello," Henry says, her Aglionby smile firmly in place.

One of the other guys waves back.

"Hey," says the third. "Three of you and three of us."

"Shut up, man." That's the first guy, who has on a white tank top and swim trunks that can really only be described as ugly. "Hey. I'm Tad. The rude one is Joey, and the quiet dude is Brian."

Of course one of them is named Tad. Gansey hides a laugh in her own private school grin.

"Cool," Henry says.

"Yeah, yeah. Cool." Echoes Tad. Brian nods.

"You're all girls, right?" Asks Rude Joey.

Blue moves to stand up. "That's my cue to leave."

Tad hits Joey, harder than Joey was expecting, by the wounded look on his face.

"Dude, what the fuck? I'm sorry, he's an asshole. You don't have to leave, and we won't keep bothering you if you don't want us to. Are you roadtripping before college? That's what we're doing. We're from Vancouver."

"Vancouver, Washington, or BC?"

"Washington."

Henry can't help but tsk. "Oh, I'm sorry."

The three boys laugh. "You from the other one, then?"

"Just me. These two are from a magical place called Virginia."

"Did you get struck by lightning?" That's Rude Joey again. This time, it's Brian who hits him. "I don't mean anything bad by it! It looks sick. Like... Like cool sick."

"I know what sick means," Gansey says, like she's totally been using such slang her whole life.

"Right. Yeah, it looks cool. I was just curious."

"No, I was not struck by lightning." Gansey looks torn, like she wants to go into an explanation for what, exactly, differentiates her scars from lightning scars, but also doesn't want to engage.

"We're going to a party tonight," Tad tells Henry. "If you and your friends want to come. Or just you."

"Oh?" Not counting Joey, the other two seem like decent sort, decent enough that Henry thinks she can get them to back off just by being honest. "Sorry, I don't really go to parties without my girlfriend."

Tad blinks, and then they all kinda look at the three of them in turn. "Oh! Oh, yeah. Of course. Well, like I said. All three of you are welcome to come, then."

"Which one of you is the girlfriend?"

Blue, still sitting between the two of them, speaks up for the first time. Her grin is bordering on carnivorous, as she reaches out and grabs Gansey's hand with one of hers, the other finding the inside Henry's elbow.

"We both are," she says.

This makes all three of them do their best imitation of a peanut gallery, complete with a spluttered noise from Joey.

"Come on." Blue does stand up this time, pulling the both of them to their feet. "It's my turn to drive."

They make quick work of their little camp, and Henry can't help but turn back and give them a cheeky wave as they head back up the little sandbank.

The last thing they hear before they bundle back up into the Dream Pig is a third voice, which must belong to the quiet Brian.

"Lesbians can do that?"

"Should we bother telling them we're not lesbians?" Gansey whispers to the other two, and then they're all laughing, even as they shrug back into clothing better suited to driving.

"I am," Blue reminds her, and snags the keys from Gansey's front pocket with just the right kind of look in her eyes to get Gansey going scarlet.

Lesbian or not, #lesbianscandothat? becomes Henry's tag for the rest of the trip.


End file.
